Week 42: 大家好

大家好！ hello hello! 

We will just get right into this email by saying that this week we got stood up because of a cat. We set up with one of our investigators, Corrie, for Saturday night and we called her on Friday night to make sure she could still come the next day and she was like "sisters I am so sorry but I can't come because my cat." and we were all thinking GOOD ONE CORRIE but said "..oh, what's going on with your cat?" and she goes on to explain to us that her cat, Koko, is passing a kidney stone and they had already been to 2 different doctors. And then Corrie started crying because she loves her cat so much and loves all the animals in the world! Ah such a good heart she has;) We love Corrie and we love Koko. Lessons learned-

1. sometimes excuses to not meet with us are legit

2. if you need some comfort, Koko the cat had a worse week than you did

3. #ilovealltheanimalsinthewholewideworld

The work here in XinAn is going as good as ever and this past week we met a bunch of people who want to meet with us! yesssss Specifically we met a mom and her 9 year old daughter on our way to dinner one night. We talked with her and found out that she had met a bunch of missionaries before just on the street/in passing. But after chatting a bit with her and asking if she would like to learn more she told us, "Usually I say no but for some reason I feel like I need to learn more about Jesus Christ right now." We met with her and her daughter 3 days later and will again tomorrow! I think my favorite thing on the mission is seeing the changes that the gospel of Jesus Christ causes in people. For 何 mama and meimei it was hope brought by knowing that they are God's children and can be together forever. It is the joy and hope and relief that comes through repenting and the Atonement of Jesus Christ that makes people change and it is beautiful to see how people who have felt guilt and pain for years humbly turn to Jesus Christ for relief. I found this quote this past week during studies, “Hope and Healing are not found in the dark abyss of secrecy but in the light and love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”—Sister Carole M. Stephens, “The Master Healer”

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I have grown up knowing this gospel but not until coming on this mission did I start to understand more fully the depth and power of Jesus Christ's gospel and His sacrifice. There is always more to learn about the Savior. There is always love and patience and kindness to work on. There are experiences every day that we can recognize and improve and all because Jesus Christ has felt the pain and the happiness that every one of us has felt. Turn to Him! How can we and why would we settle with being where we are? Change is hard sometimes but if God has promised us that he has more happiness and joy waiting than we can imagine, why would we not just try? No matter if we are in a trial or life is going superb, there is always more joy that God has waiting for us! He just wants us to use a lil bit of faith and turn to Him. I love the gospel. I am so happy I get to share it every single day and see the happiness that Jesus Christ brings people. This gospel gives hope and happiness and purpose and forgiveness. I LOVE IT!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-00-1420-because-of-him?lang=eng

xoxo mo 

PICS

It's ZoE!!! (we are gonna travel the world together post mish)

ma people--> XinAn ward mini party!

this is my favorite picture. ENJOY

WEEK 41: Wrapping up 2016 and a fre$h $tart

Welp my child Sister Rhynard moved out into the world (moved to ShiLin!) and I am taking over the land of XinAn! I will miss her and am so grateful for all the memories and work we were able to do together in XinAn the past 12 weeks. I have been here since the end of September and will be here for another 6 weeks so it's safe to say this place feels like a 2nd home:') 

Who are my companions though? Oh how the turn tables....

I have TWO: Sister Watson and my MTC companion Sister Langley!

Back to the trio and I am so excited for a new year, new transfer, and new fresh start. Happy 2017 everyone!!

I have been pondering the year of 2016 a lot and I think it is safe to say it was the best year of my life. I started the first couple months of 2016 by spending incredible time with the people I love most and then headed off on this adventure of sharing the gospel in Taiwan! I have never felt so close to my Savior than I did this year. Lesson learned: Heavenly Father has so much more in store for our lives than we could ever achieve on our own and the happiness He gives is extremely different than the happiness the world can give. And the greatest ending to the best year of my life *drum roll please*  鄭卉捃 was baptized on 12/31!! I have no way to describe to you how amazing it is to see people changing their lives through Jesus Christ. Watching the process from beginning until when they are being baptized is the most beautiful and strengthening experience. I love the Savior and I love this gospel and the Book of Mormon and that I get to share this message everyday!

not gonna lie most of the time I think the hardest part of the mission is writing weekly emails...!!!!

hahaha #strugglebus

Lastly I will tell you my word of the year for 2017! In a family home evening a while back, my mama had us pick a word that would be our motto for that year and this year I picked the word "sacrifice". I have learned so much about sacrifice through our Savior and it is something that I want to study more. But basically every single day in every situation we have the opportunity to sacrifice what we want in order to serve others and serve the Lord. Tell me your words of the year! I hope everyone can make a goal this year to learn more about Jesus Christ. The joy that comes from doing so will change your life. kisseeeesss

xoxo 

hermana 莫

Photos

ZHENG JM BAPTISM<3<3

mis companitos! Sister Watson & Sister Langleyyy

S T E L L A

AP'S being super annoying and made us go to the mission office to figure out where we were going this transfer and who our comps were

got reunited with mom and baby #3generations :'))))))

Our investigator Sophie!!! She invited us to her insane 2nd home in the mountains and we hung out with her last P-day

breakfast at tiffany's? (never seen that movie but i feel like this is breakfast at tiffany's)

she made us lunchies

i love 山

hunger games prep with Sophie

AM I KATNISS YET

On the way to Sophie's house! (in XinDian) *heart eye emoji*

WEEK 40: MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY 跨年!

Let's just say this was one of the most special Christmas' I have ever had in ma vida. I feel like there are categories of Christmas: Christmas with family and Christmas away from family. I had no expectations because I have never been away from fam at this time before but DANG this Christmas exceeded all the expectations I never had lolz 

FAMILY AND LAURA getting to see your faces this Christmas was the best gift I could have asked for! Ahhh so 感動 <3 I feel like I have had a teddy bear in my heart since I hung up hahaha. The joy from that Skype + seeing the incredible people I have in my life has got me feeling so blessed and grateful and I just can't stop smiling. I LOVE YOU<3 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and were able to think about the gift of being with family! And if you were unable to be with family that knowing the Savior was born was able to provide peace and happiness. 

Christmas Miracles: 

1. Seeing the people I love most for the 1st time in 9 months. <3 the feeling is so indescribable! I love you i love you i love you i love you

2. 5 people came to Sacrament meeting yesterday!

3. A girl from China walked into the chapel 15 minutes before church was starting. She said that the other day her taxi driver drove her past the chapel and told her it was a good place and she needed to go there on Sunday. She showed up 100% randomly and it just happened to be right before the meeting was starting! She loved it and talked about how she is always so curious to learn more about Jesus Christ but doesn't know how to learn more in China. She also ended up coming back at night for our Christmas choir concert and brought 3 other friends she had met here in Taiwan. INSANE!

4. At the performance (fam, isn't it presenting??) last night, we had an investigator show up that we have not seen in f o r e v e r and she is meeting with us this week! She heard about the activity through a member friend she met a while back and she came and asked if we could keep sharing the gospel with her... #yas

5. Pretty much half of the ward members from my first area (ZhongHe) came to the Christmas performance last night and it was one of the most joyful experiences I have ever had.  It hit me so hard how much these people become your family for the weeks you serve in that area! They care for you, love you, feed you, put medicine on your booboos, teach you Mandarin, and treat you like family. I love the Taiwanese and I love Taiwan!!

Needless to say many tears were shed yesterday:') I am in awe at the love of Heavenly Father for each of His children. Yesterday sort of reached overwhelming levels happy-it felt like time had stopped and I was watching everything from a different perspective. I looked at all the people I know and the friendships made and the ways that they have influenced my testimony and all the millions of ways that these people have served me and my companions as we serve on our missions. I fully believe that if we look at people and we pray to God to help us love them as He loves them (even if they are people you already love a lot!) He will give you experiences that truly overwhelm you and you will feel a love you never knew you were capable of feeling. It is a type of love that will help you know that God really does exist and that He hears your prayers. It is a love that will help you understand a tiiiiiiiiinnnyyyyy bit of the way that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ feel for you and it is a love that will change your life. I have been pondering so much about this and about the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us. We have the chance and opportunity to change our lives through Jesus Christ! The joy and comfort and peace that God wants to give us is so much more than anything we can imagine. If we just open our heart to Him and trust Him and His timing and His plan, God promises us He will give us more joy than is possible to attain on our own. When I think about it like this, I wonder why I ever think I can do this on my own. God, the Creator of this world and the Father of all of us promises He will bless us if we just trust Him. So trust Him and follow Jesus Christ's example and our lives will change in ways we could not have changed on our own. 

I am very very grateful for this Christmas season and for my mission and the way that learning of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father has changed my life and perspective. 

After the Skyping...apparently my English is suffering so I apologize for any errors or anything incoherent in my emails. hahahah

...actually incoherent has to do with my brain right?

I'll work on that too lolz

maybe

can't make any promises 

I love you and MERRY CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR! eat veggies and spread the light of Christ

xoxxo 

莫姐妹

1 One of my greatest friends here- Cai JM made us into caricatures (is that the right word? cartoons?) and wrote me a Christmas card. I am OBSESSED with how cute it is

2.  I got to see my best friend from the first area I served in!! ——> 林妹妹 ^o^

3. dis be 黃致茄 and I also love her very much

4. also a person I love from my first area! 蘇姐妹 we were at the Christmas activity and when it ended I heard this person screaming "莫姐妹 , 莫姐妹!!" and she ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug and it was pure JOY

5. This is the famous running-after-us-on-our-bikes guy! His name is Henry and HE GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY in another area called Beitou! At the Christmas activity last night, he came and found me afterward and he said "if you hadn't driven past that store that night I would have never had this chance to find the truth. i know it was God's plan for me, thank you." 

6. There is a college student in our ward studying art and last week I was super annoying and asked her to paint me something and yesterday she gave me this....how beautiful is this? :o speechless

WEEK 39: Merry Christmas!

Hello 大家 and 聖誕節快樂!!!

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from Taiwan! This Christmas season has been one I will never forget and has really helped me focus on the reason we have this holiday. Jesus Christ is the reason we are here and have everything that we have! I am so grateful for the holiday season to think of Him and His example and focus on trying to serve others as He did! If you need ideas check the link below and definitely watch the video:) I love my Savior Jesus Christ and am grateful every single day that I have the opportunity to be a missionary and share about Him. Sending you all my prayers and love and lots of hugs and kisses over the miles. I love you so much!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

xoXoOx

sista 莫

check it outttt--> 

https://www.lds.org/blog/25-ways-to-lighttheworld-this-christmas?cid=HP_FR_9-12-2016_dOCS/MIS_fBLOG_xLIDyI-2_

1.  On a morning run this week at the park I straight up ATE IT.

2. MY CUTE FAT HAND--> I landed on my right hand and it took all the impact (plus my knees and my elbow and shoulder a lil hahah)  bruisie bruise. My hand hurt worse after this fall than it did when I broke my foot in high school. I landed on it and then sort of skidded forward with my weight all in my fingers bent under my body. I thought I had broken every bone/tendon/blood cell in my hand it hurt so bad hahah BUT God works miracles and NOTHING WAS BROKEN!! 

3.  This is my taiwanese mother 徐媽媽! (mama you would LOVE her!) she makes the best smoothies and always brightens my day.

4. The day that I fell running, we walked by her smoothie shop on our way to grab lunch and she saw my hand and freaked out! She was like "I am going to do for you what your mom would do for you if she were here" and then whipped out a first aid kit full of Chinese Medicine haha. She takes out this red ointment that is like...well...super red and she rubbed it all over my hand. And the thing with the red stuff is that it does NOT rub in. You just glob it on apparently hahaha. So she puts it on and then puts some gauze and tape over it and tells me I am good to go! Here's the final product: HAHAHAHA

BUT remember how we were on our way to lunch? Well it was a veg place where you use 夾子 your hands, it's self-serve.You would not even believe the looks of horror that I was getting hahahahah  People were gasping and staring and moving far, far away from me HAHAHA oh my goodness so funny. So finally I am checking out and the lady at the counter is like "你怎麼了!?" (what happened to you?!) and I announced, loud enough for everyone to here, "這是中醫!" (it's just Chinese medicine!) and then the whole restaurant calmed down and people resumed eating, only a little distraught by how terrible my hand looked hahahahah

5.  I'm a berdddd!  (The best start to the week- last pday at the beach<3  rejuvenation ah yeah)

6. Sister Rhynard and me :')

7.  Writing xmas cards on the beach + proof that my hair has 800% changed color :o

8.  Being a missionary...random contact on ze beach :)

9. Getting to see some of my favorite people in the world! My trainer sis bradley, sister austad and sister tadd :'D

9. I got to cut Sister Koh's hair!! Life goal= complete

10. OUR INSANELY CUTE INVESTIGATOR: Meet Zheng Hui Jun<3 she is getting baptized in 2 weeks! I love Hui Jun.

11. Our ward's Christmas performance!! Such a awesome experience to sing hymns in 中文. Mandarin is such an incredible language and it is so fascinating to see how hymns are translated differently and with slightly different meanings. YAY FOR CULTURE

WEEK 38: T-13 dAyS!

朋友朋友！你們好嗎？今天的天氣很美和我的心好開心！

One of those times (aka all the time) where I would love to write you an essay on how much I love Taiwan and the people here and being a missionary---> This week was legittttttt and Sister Rhynard had I had so much fun! It has been great how we’ve become so close over the past 10 weeks through everything we have been learning together and I will miss her like crazy when transfers come in a couple weeks! :'( my lil child </3

Here a a few highlights for this past week!

1. 張姐妹! (far left) Zoe. She is an investigator we have been meeting with for about a month now and she has been coming to church every Sunday! Lately she has been a bit undecided on baptism until our lesson this past week. It was one of the most powerful lessons I have ever been in. We really tried to understand what was holding her back and she opened up to us a lot. We told her we know we have no possible way to understand the challenges she faces but we know that Jesus Christ completely understands her. We shared personal experience and our member helping us teach shared a story with her. It was so amazing to see that through all of our different challenges and trials in life- even though they were all extremely different- the Savior and the gospel helped us through. 張姐妹 started crying and said “I know God caused us to meet as part of His great plan for my life.” 

2. 鄭姐妹, a 20 year old who also doubles as our best friend, has taken over the role of "missionary" in our lessons and basically teaches us every time. She is amazing and her faith inspires me so much! She fully trusts God and Jesus Christ and knows that they will help her through everything. I have never met anyone with as much faith as her!  It has been the greatest blessing to learn from her and to learn the gospel with her<3  She is getting baptized on 12/31!

3. We have ANGELS in our life - people in our current ward who know Sister Rhynard's family in the States! - whom we randomly met at the chapel. They gave us little bags full of CHRISTMAS presents! :'))))) Christmas decor and pretty much anything festive does not really exist here in Taiwan because it's not a part of the culture (lol duh) so the little bits of Christmas looking stuff has been way fun! People in this world are so good. As is constant, I am amazed at the kindness and thoughtfulness of the people I’ve come to know here. Always, always amazed by the Taiwanese!!

4. The individuals we are teaching here are so solid. They ask the best questions and Sister Rhynard and I keep reflecting on the blessing it is to get to share the gospel with people who are so prepared and ready and willing to hear what we have to share! I love the people here in XinAn and WanDa and am so grateful to serve here. 

I am so grateful for Christ’s gospel. I'm so grateful for the indescribable blessing that is TAIWAN is in my life! All the people, the culture, the ways the gospel is being shared- I would not trade this experience for the world. I love you all and fam I cannot wait to see your faces in less that 2 WEEKS WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you！ 我愛你 我愛你 我愛你！

xoxoxo

莫姐妹

merry xmass tehe

more photos

1. dis ma birthday cake! our church family made my birthday<3  in this photo - with some of my best friends who surprised me with sushi!

2. THE MOST legit veg sushi roll in the entire world. like it won a prize for being so good...(yes i take pictures of food & yes I eat food 哈哈 ＃抱歉)

3. we bought BOOTS! #merrychristmas

4. our chapel on Saturday! The English ward and the Jin Hua wards put on a huge nativity production to reenact the Savior's birth and it was a m a z i n g! I have never seen anything like it! We had 3 of our investigators come to it and they all said they finally understood why there is Christmas!! Hahahah YAY mission accomplished!


5) this is the one and only 龔巧珍。 she reminds me so much of Grandma and it makes me so happy. she wears these glasses- they are the gong jm glasses and they are level 500. i don't speak prescription language but i know that's a lot because when i put them on i can't see ANYTHING. Also it was Mov Monday (mov is this pink color of my jacket AND the color of her glasses!) On Mondays we Mov and 剛剛好 i had a suit jacket and gong jm's mov glasses #movmonday

6. this is 小林長老 (little elder lin). he is my best bud :') SO CUTE

7) don't ask what i am doing but plz zoom in on Sister Rhynard's face. thank you.

WEEK 37: 我想念你們! + a huge 奇蹟!

hello 大家好!

i am not doing caps this week because i decided to go for a bit of an e.e. cummings vibe ~可以嗎? 

this week i woke up on my birthday and missing the family and laura and everyone just hit me like a big old AIRBUS! (sorry that needed to be caps hahaha) really though i woke up and i was just like "wow I miss my people soooo bad!" it hit me and i cried it out before we got ready and went to the court to play basketball with the elders. i cannot tell you how weird it is to have a birthday on the mission but i will say it was a bit of a turning point for me. that sounds so cheesy hahah but i actually feel like my 20th birthday was a crucial day of reflection and learning. i was pretty deep in thought the whole morning, thinking about how weird birthdays are and where is my family and why do we celebrate birthdays and why am i even thinking about myself this much i need to focus on studying and preparing for our investigators today, and why do i feel like i am watching my life in 3rd person? 

hahah it got weird~~~

basically i had a billion thoughts going through my head about how STRANGE the feeling was and why it was happening. i was used to missing my family but i was not used to feeling so caught up in the feeling that i couldn't really focus. so i said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help me focus and help me think about things in a more constructive light (rather than destructive, since it was weighing me down). i started a.m. scripture study after that prayer and i opened to Alma 37: 36-37.  it says,

36 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and 
whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

 37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest 
down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

i miss my family and friends very much. i miss them every single day and i want that to be fully and 110% clear, that since i began this experience here in Taiwan i have felt the distance every day. but on my birthday morning, it came in especially like a big wave and i couldn't seem to move past the feeling and focus on it...

...until i started reading these 2 verses in Alma. 

i have read these verses over and over again but this time felt different based on the circumstances. i love this about the Book of Mormon and the Bible- that we read them continually and learn more and take away different things each time! this verse felt like Heavenly Father was talking to me, telling me to rely on Him, trust in Him and turn to Him. He promises us that He will take care of us through his Son, so all i needed to do was to turn my thoughts to Him and stop relying on myself. "let our hearts be full of thanks to God" is one of my favorite phrases. we are promised challenges as part of this life. but i love love LOVE that in constantly turning our thoughts and gratitude to God, continually remembering His and our Savior's love for us, we show Him we need him and trust Him and in turn He blesses us. i spent the rest of that day thinking a lot. pondering everything! (literally one of those days where your mind will not stop) i felt gratitude and overwhelming feelings of thankfulness for my Savior and for Heavenly Father. the moment i turned to Him, He helped me turn the feelings of sadness and physical pain of missing my loved ones to a realization of how blessed i am to have the people that i have in my life and that I have them because of Him! if all of our thoughts are truly directed to the Lord, He will help us turn those moments of discomfort into hope and comfort. of course the feelings of missing my peeps are there and they are gonna be there every single day of my mission! but i want you all to know that i know for 100% sure that Heavenly Father can ease the pain and heartache. 

lesson learned:  no matter how big or small your challenge is, there is always the choice of whether or not we want to turn to Him and allow Him in.  i really want everyone to know that wherever you are in life and whatever you are going through, you can find hope and peace through Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ.

(i am pretty sure i wrote this for myself because wow so much reflection hahah thanks for bearing with me!)

last i want to share an INCREDIBLE miracle that happened last night to show you that God is constantly preparing people to hear the gospel.  last night we had a Fireside. it was fantastic and there were Christmas songs errywhere (HOLLA!) after the Fireside, there were treats and basically everyone just chats and you see people you met awhile back from other areas of Taipei. well i was just eating my 橙子 and talking to our amazing investigator named Zheng Hui Jun when this guy comes up to me and says, "it's you! i knew it was you!" and i had absolutely no clue who he was so i pulled one of those awkward laughs like "aha ahh yes...it's...you........¿"

-TOTALLY BLANKED-

but sensing how awkward I was and the fact that I was not saying his name he goes "i am the guy who ran after you a couple weeks back! and i followed you to the chapel to get a copy of the bible! and now because of you i am meeting with the missionaries in BeiTou and getting baptized at the end of the year!" 

大家!!!! He was NOT creepy and turns out Heavenly Father had just realllyyy prepared him to see us that night and feel inspired to RUN (nope, he definitely did not bike. he ran a whole mile) and ask us for a bible. It was probably one of the greatest miracles I have seen on my mission- especially seeing how God's plan played out! Sister Rhynard and I are in shock/kinda feel bad at thinking he was so creepy hahaha OOPS. Really though God has a plan for everyone and I am so excited for him to be baptized! 

I am sooo grateful for daily miracles and for the miracle it is that we get to turn to God daily. we can legitimately choose to see miracles! family and friends it is not possible for me to express my love to you and my gratitude for each of you in my life. i cherish every single relationship i have and i thank Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for making it all possible. life is so beautiful! i hope everyone is making plans to express love to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and to everyone in your life this holiday season because wow WE BE BLESSED!

thanks for reading my document!!! i love you all with all my fiber

(trust me i eat a lot of fiber) 

xoxox

sista 莫

p.s. SORRY I FORGOT MY CAMERA! i have no pics this week

WEEK 36: Chen Fen Fan got baptized!

CHEN FEN FAN'S XILIHUI!!

Meet Fen Fan. She is amazing and Sister Rhynard and I are constantly talking about how happy we feel after every time we met with her. She has taught me so much about faith in the past couple months we have been teaching her! She is one of the most prepared people ever to meet the gospel. 

Our Side of the Story: One Saturday night a couple months ago, I was feeling like we needed to invite more people to church. So I browsed through our cell phone contacts and found a number that said "Referral Chen Fen Fan." Turns out it was a referral from one of our church members that had been in our phone forever but just never got contacted. So I called her and invited her to come to church with us the next day. She responded, "well I am already Christian and I am going to another church." But then I was like, "oh cool! have you ever thought about where all these Christian churches came from? and why there are so many?" and she was quiet for a second and then goes, "actually yeah I have wondered about that". And then I say something along the lines of, "well your church is in the morning and ours is in the afternoon! meet us tomorrow at 1:20 and we can talk about why there are so many churches." The next Sunday SHE CAME right at 1:20!!! And she stayed for all 3 hours of church and then wanted to talk about why there were so many churches. We shared the Restoration with her and from that point on she kept every commitment to prepare to be baptized. It was a huge miracle. Huge.

But little did we know that it was actually WAY HUGER (yes it's a word) than we even knew!!!

After Chen JieMei was baptized she got to share a lil testimony. I want to write it down how she said it (but in English):

"A couple months ago I was watching Good TV (the Christian station here in Taiwan) and I was wondering why there are so many churches. I have been to a lot of churches, been baptized 3 different times.  DURING the time I was watching Good TV the phone rang and it was Mo JieMei. She introduced herself then asked me if I had ever thought about where all these churches come from!  She said that she and Rao JieMei could teach me about why there are so many churches and she invited me to come to church with them the next day. I went and the moment I got there I felt like I was in the right place and that Heavenly Father had lead me there."

I was speechless. Heavenly Father seriously leads us missionaries to people who are ready to hear the gospel. I am so amazed at the Lord's hand in helping Fen Fan find the answer she had been praying for! It resulted in one of the most converted people I have ever met, and someone who has taught me so much about faith and the restoration of the gospel in this time. I have been pondering about this experience a lot and grateful to witness a miracle. I feel like we seldom see the results of why we felt to do something. As we keep trying to follow the Savior's teachings we are led to do things that a lot of the time we can't see direct outcomes of our efforts. Or think of it like whenever you do an act of kindness or service- 99% of the time you cannot see the results of your efforts. And sometimes that's the hard part because you might think it was all in vain. But I know for sure that no act of service to do something for another person that you feel the need to do is ever wasted! Heavenly Father always keeps His promises. He blesses us and others as we try to follow Jesus Christ and His teachings. I love how simple this gospel is- that's something I understand even greater from Chen JieMei :') 

I love you all so much. Thank you for your continual support and love and for taking time out of your lives to email me! It means the world to me. I am kinda out of time cuz we are about to eat a vegetarian curry sushi roll called "Steph Curry" so it's a bit urgent..

HAHA it is literally the only item in English on the menu and it is a vegetarian sushi roll called Steph Curry!! All my favorite things in one little bite :')

I love you more than I love Steph Curry.

xoxox

Mo JieMei

莫

the streets of JiuFen

This was the clearest day I have seen the whole time I have been in Taiwan! We got up to JiuFen and the rain stopped and the sun came out and BAM! :')  I basically have no words for how much I love JiuFen.

sister rhynard and lu jiemei<3

Our Japanese Thanksgiving! Basically everyday is Thanksgiving here in 台灣 (as you have probably noticed from my pictures hahaha)  Happy Thanksgiving America!!

OUR PEOPLE! We organized a Thanksgiving activity with food and a play of Nephi & the brass plates for our ward and it was AMAZING! Such a good turnout and all we had to do was get members to make food and invite people and when you got free food you got an activity #winning (no joke I was trying to figure out what we were going to do for decorations and asking around and finally someone was like "莫姐妹 我們是台灣人我們不管!" hahaha it means "mo jie mei we are taiwanese and we do not care about that stuff". reason #793 why I love Taiwan.

Week 35: Gǎn'ēn jié kuàilè Happy Thanksgiving!

This week has been insanity...like P-90X Tony Horton level of insanity. 1st: Sister Rhynard is halfway through training which means my child is growing up :') I can't believe how quick a month and a half goes by here. That also means that 聖誕節 is in less than 6 weeks! I GET TO SEE YOUR FACES FAMILY!!!! The excitement I have for this = aksudgbkasjdnvoishei4

Next! You know how I told you we were like reallllllyyyy busy? Welp joke is on us because we just took over another area so now Sister Rhynard and I cover XinYi, DaAn, WanHua, and DaTong areas....LITERALLY THE WHOLE CITY OF TAIBEI! 

The reason we are doing this is because they took the Sisters out of WanHua/DaTong area and closed that apartment and apparently someone trusts us to do stuff so we are in charge now?? lolz  We met with all of their investigators on top of our investigators and basically just became one big fam. Time is a precious gift 大家!! USE IT WELL. (and feel free to donate us some if u can hehe)

CHEN FEN FAN IS GETTING BAPTIZED NEXT SUNDAY! I know I never tell you enough about all of our investigators, but it's because I would need to write novels and again...time hahah SORRY. Better late than never, yes? --> Chen Fen Fan is a 50 year old Christian woman who has one of the strongest beliefs in God and Jesus Christ. She shared a lot with us about how much her beliefs have changed her and helped her through so many things in her life, the good and the bad. She has been baptized three times before but she told us she always felt something was missing. We had a member ask her why she wanted to be baptized in our church (because our member was like "is she just going to keep getting baptized?") and Fen Fan said, "None of the other churches have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ." Hahah she was kind of just like, "duh" It was sooo cool to see how converted she is. She had so many questions when we first met her weeks back, but she told us they had been answered after we finished the last lesson with her. So yes, she is getting baptized on Sunday!! So many miracles in the 城市.  Please pray for her to keep feeling loved and that the baptism will go 顺利! Pictures and stories to come next week :D 

(wow I really am such a spaz when I type hahah really sorry it's the best I got without emojis I guess - insert sassy hand emoji) 

I really have seen so many miracles on my mission. Getting to reflect back and write these emails on what has happened makes me feel an immense amount of gratitude. Everything that I see and learn here has brought me much closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and recognizing that they really do know who I am and are aware of me and each and every one of us.

TO DO RIGHT NOW: think about something you have been through in the past that was really difficult/challenging. Then take a moment to think about where you are right now at this point in your life and in this very moment. Compare the feelings from that trial and think of how that trial ended or how it is not as "heavy" anymore. My friends, that is a straight up 奇蹟 (miracle). What a great opportunity to thank Heavenly Father for where you are in your life right now and if you are in having a hard time right now, you can rely on Jesus Christ and his Atonement to help you through it. I know it's not possible to feel happiness and joy all the time and that was never how it was meant to be because we can rely on Jesus Christ to support us and pull us through! But there is always something to be grateful for and there is always good to be recognized which helps us notice the love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for us.  

Alma 37: 37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

i love you!!

xoxo 

sista 莫

Taipei 101 building with the elders

when you walk into church and the members have already 

prepared you a special vegetarian lunch>>>>> (every single week) #grateful #blessup